Terminal Cancer Couloir is an long thin couloir located in the Ruby Mountains of Nevada. It is easy to get to, fun to ski, and first-class in ambiance. Only about 30 minutes from Elko and with a very short approach, it should be a classic ski descent on any backcountry skiers hit list. The first time I saw pictures of it was in "50 classic ski descents of North America", and right then knew it was something I had to ski.
Terminal Cancer Couloir
It wasn't until about 8pm that prior evening when we confirmed our plans to try to ski Terminal Cancer Couloir the following morning. This gave us 6 hours to plan out the following day, get directions, and try to get a good nights sleep. We were able to accomplish two of those things. Coby, Justin, and I loaded up the car and were headed west on I-80 by around 2:30 a.m. About 4 hours later we had made it to our trailhead, the end of the maintained road in Lamoille Canyon.
Lamoille Canyon
From the end of the road it was about a 15 minute walk down the road until we could see the couloir, a perfect split in rock running up the canyon walls for about 2500 feet. After finding a place to cross the river we quickly took off the skins and started booting up the apron and into the couloir. At the beginning of the day we were a little worried about the possibility of wet slides, but were grateful that the temperatures didn't get too warm throughout the day.
Booting up the apron
Even booting up the couloir was an enjoyable experience. Theres something special about being inside this couloir, with large rockwalls on both sides that almost seemed as if they formed just for the purpose of backcountry skiers. We made good time up the top of the end of the couloir. From the top, there is hte option to continue another 500 feet to a summit where I assume is great 360 degree views of the Ruby Mountains. However, to do so would have involved entering terrain susceptible to wet slides so we decided against the top out this time.
Inside the Couloir
At the top of the couloir, the skiing was tight, with just enough room for series of jump turns. The snow was a little bit harder than expected due to cooler temperatures, but still soft enough for very fun skiing. About 1000 feet down the couloir it opened up a bit where it was possible to make some wider turns. After only 5 or 6 of these, it then again gets narrow until the exit. The run down was a blast for all of us. 2500 feet of jump turns later, our legs were burning as we exited the couloir. Some slushy skiing throughout the apron, dodging trees, and then crossing the stream once again led us back to the road. Another 4 hours in the car and we were back in Salt Lake planning our next adventure.
Looking down from the top (The top 20 feet was the only rocky part)
On a side note, koby decided to switch things up a bit and do a BN ski descent (Butt Naked), an awesome line for his first BN descent. Many gnar points were awarded, even after his painful fall. We had borrowed a go-pro from a friend for the day and Justin was able to throw together a video of his ski descent. The video is below.
This mornings destination was the West Couloir of Kessler Peak. With the warm temps we've had all this week, I opted for the early start to avoid messing around on the slopes during midday. I got to the trailhead before 7:30 and started up Argenta Slide Path. About 3 hours later I was at the top of Kessler. While it's hard to notice that theres any sort of couloir, the route starts right from the summit and drops west down the bowl on the opposing side of Argenta. Theres a band of exposed rocks that may make skiing right into it from the summit difficult, but it is easy to go skiers right to avoid them. It starts as a treed-in bowl, then a gully, then a chute, then an open bowl, another chute, a winding gully, and then a drop off... I had read in Andrew Mclean's guidebook "Chuting Gallery", that there's a cliff you avoid to skiers right, but didn't expect to have to take off the skis and do some downclimbing to get through. Makes it more adventurous though. The route then follows the gully into Mineral Fork where you can cruise out the canyon easily. According to my odometer, the parking for Argenta is about 1.3 miles up from Mineral Fork Trailhead. During the descent, I found fresh snow in the open and tree-proceted sections of the couloir. The tighter parts were full of icey debris but not steep enough to make it a problem. I could imagine that with better conditions this line would be almost equal to all the other great lines down Kessler Peak.
Beautiful day up in the Wasatch
First tight section of the couloir
Second tight section
If the snow was a bit softer this would make a fun drop. Icy landings makes a fun down climb skiers right
Enchanted forest of aspens on the way into Mineral Fork
Apollo Couloir runs off North Olympus right to the valley floor. It is a run I've wanted to check out for a while and with bad visibility at upper elevations, we decided to give it a go. After parking at the same trailhead for the West Slabs (Medusas Face), you continue up the trail past the creek leading to the face to the next gully heading up the mountain. There was a lot of avalanche debris at the entrance of the couloir, making it difficult to get up. Forgetting to bring skin wax led to a lot of snow sticking on our skins, and the quick transition to boot packing. Apollo Couloir has steep rock walls on the skiers left side and the west face of Olympus on the right. It was a really nice couloir and ended up being good skiing as well (minus the debris at the bottom). On our way out we tried to continue down the gully instead of branching out the way we came. This led us to a forest of shrubbery that was almost impossible to get through with getting stuck every few minutes. Eventually we found our way back to the car right as the clouds were rolling in.
After not skiing for the last two weeks during our spring break climbing and surfing trip in california, we were eager to get back into the swing of skiing. While we were away we also got some more snow, enough to fill in the Y Couloir. The Y is a long couloir running off the south side of Little Cottonwood, west of Hogum Fork and leads up to Thunder Ridge.
The Y Couloir (Taken from tetonsandwasatch.com)
After parking at the Lisa Falls Trailhead follow a system of trails leading towards the couloir and you will find one of the several river crossings. Once past the river, simply continue south towards the entrance and you will come out right at the base. Such an easy approach is one of the reasons the Y is so popular. The rest is quite simple, 3,200+ of boot-packing. At the first fork go right and at the second fork go left.
Booting up
Broads Fork Twin Peaks with Lisa Falls running off of it
We were lucky to have a group of skiers in front of us who laid out the booter. We stopped at the end of the couloir about 50 feet before it tops out on the ridge. If you continue the extra 50 feet you come to great views of tons of skiing terrain. However, deep snow and a large cornice blocked us from continuing. The skiing through the couloir had a mixed variety of deep snow, windcrusts, and a bit of slush as the temperatures warmed. We enjoyed the 3200 feet of 40 degree couloir skiing through its entirety. Since the Y leads to several other descents were planning on this winter, I'm sure we'll be up it again soon enough.
